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With both mainstream political parties apparently united in their determination to privatise the UK postal system, Mick Brooks makes the case for resisting so-called "part-privatisation".... [read more]

The Spending Review by George Osborne contained no surprises. But suppose Mr Osborne really understood economics and actually wanted to improve the British economy. George Tait Edwards provides a constructive speech for a competent chancellor... [read more]

Investigative reporter Greg Palast is usually pretty good at peering behind the rhetoric and seeing what is really going on. But in tearing into Senator Elizabeth Warren’s support of postal financial services, he has done a serious disservice to the underdogs... [read more]

Richard Kirker remembers Ian Buist: the quintessential Civil Service mandarin, but also a doughty proponent of social progress. He had a fearless determination to champion the rights of the victims of injustice, minorities and the marginalised.... [read more]

Ian Buist: Ian Buist, CB, colonial officer, overseas aid administrator and champion of human and gay rights, was born on May 30, 1930. He died on October 19, 2012, aged 82, remembered by Richard Kirker.... [read more]

For the five or six generations of solitary, sedentary boys in the middle of which fell my vintage (the baby boomers), the hobby par excellence was collecting stamps, recalls W Stephen Gilbert.... [read more]

It has been a big year for the English health service, for the wrong reasons. With so much happening so fast, Alex Nunns of the NHS Support Federation pulls together the strands to explain what is really going on in the NHS... [read more]

So far this year, junior doctors – for the first time in over 40 years – have taken two days of industrial action in defence of their terms and conditions, and to defend the NHS against Tory cuts and privatisation.... [read more]

George Tait Edwards MBE makes the case for the urgent implementation of Keynesian economics to stimulate growth, based on the economic model's previous success in the US, China and Japan... [read more]

No solution will come from our chain-of-command—the solution is fighting our chain-of-command. Michael Prysner, former US army corporal and Iraq war veteran, discusses record suicides amongst active-duty soldiers and reminds troops that they do not have to fight wars of imperialism... [read more]

When it comes to the Health Minister’s plans for the National Health Service, the patients are against it, the nurses are against it, the doctors are against it, even the government are against it, says Chris Mason-Felsing.... [read more]

What do you do if you’re the victim of injustice against major
institutions, walled up behind teams of legal eagles whose expertise
focuses first and foremost on closing ranks and damage limitations?... [read more]

Part 5 of Eric Toussaint's series Banks versus the People: the Underside of a Rigged Game shows that big banks continue playing with fire, because they are persuaded that governments will save them whenever necessary... [read more]

Uri Avnery reveals that in Israel senior military officers and intelligence chiefs are speaking out against President Binyamin Netanyahu's calls for war with Iran. However, Netanyahu ignores their warnings and carries on regardless... [read more]

It’s a great irony that although human beings, as distinct from other animals, are characterised by their ability for rational thinking, so much of our behaviour is irrational, argues John Green.... [read more]

“One day while I was in a bunker in Vietnam, a sniper round went over my head. The person who fired that weapon was not a terrorist, a rebel, an extremist, or a so-called insurgent. The Vietnamese individual who tried to kill me was a citizen of Vietnam, who did not want me in his country. This truth escapes millions.” (Mike Hastie, Former U.S. Army Medic, Vietnam 1970-71)... [read more]

During my lifetime [3/4 of a century at current prices] UK and US socio-political goalposts have shifted so far to the right that - were we actually talking about a sports field - the centre line has been re-branded as radical.... [read more]

Michael Gove is a neoconservative member of Denis MacShane’s Henry Jackson Society, and thus also an admirer of Tony Blair and of George W Bush, neither of whom would have got any of the jokes in Blackadder... [read more]

I am a Palestinian British Muslim. I take great pride in my dual heritage. There shouldn't be a price to pay for this duality, but there is. I have paid it always reluctantly, occasionally resentfully and once or twice bitterly, writes Faisal Mikdadi... [read more]

Ayn Rand’s ideas have become the Marxism of the new right, she may have died 30 years ago but the belief system constructed by her has never been more popular or influential, says George Monbiot.
... [read more]

This Tuesday morning he arrived at the gate as usual. But something aroused suspicion among the guards. He was wearing a jacket, though the weather was quite hot on this early autumn day. The guards asked him to remove his jacket.... [read more]

As President Obama takes his last lap around the governing field before turning it over to Donald Trump LLC, many liberals and some deluded "leftists" have taken to thanking him for his eight years of service to the 1%... [read more]

The investment potential of the Russian economy offers good reasons why it is time for the West to take a more positive attitude towards the country. The President-elect might be doing everyone a favour in the long run, David Morgan argues.... [read more]

The recent and ongoing reaction of the political class here in the UK to the first prominent peace-promoting party leader in recent times is a yardstick for the modern politician’s disregard to anything Eisenhower said... [read more]

Up to 250,000 people came to London and no one can argue that the demonstration, organised by The People's Assembly, wasn’t representative of the broad spectrum of people’s anger against Tory policies... [read more]

In 1983 the world stood on the brink of a nuclear holocaust. War between NATO and the USSR was prevented by a high ranking NATO official secretly working for the GDR foreign intelligence service... [read more]

Sweden, like Britain, was always considered a "pro-Israeli" country, loyally voting against "anti-Israel" resolutions in the UN. If such important Western nations are reconsidering their attitudes towards the policy of Israel, what does it mean?... [read more]

The war was over. Families returned to their kibbutzim near Gaza. Kindergartens opened up again. A ceasefire was in force and extended again and again. Obviously, both sides were exhausted.... [read more]

On 15 August, India will mark its 67th anniversary of independence from Britain. It may seem strange to some that a nation would publicly celebrate its independence while at the same time it less publicly cedes it to outsiders... [read more]

When I first heard the suggestion that the judiciary and greater Parliamentary oversight could redress the reckless use of new capabilities by Britain's security service GCHQ, an image flashed into my mind of a 1903 painting by Australian impressionist Tom Roberts - known locally as The Big Picture... [read more]

When James Wharton stages his Canute-like attempt to prevent Labour from taking back Stockton South, then that party ought to put down an amendment declining to give the 'Daft Bill' a Second Reading in view of its entire failure to address some issues, writes David Lindsay.... [read more]

Frank Owen, the lead character in Robert Tressell’s novel The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, expressed his frustration at the dismissive response of his fellow workers to his arguments for a better society... [read more]

Ungrateful as I feel for bashing someone who was actually trying to be helpful, it was difficult not to (a) laugh and then (b) groan at a short letter I recently received from a client’s local MP, writes Felix McHugh... [read more]

The London Progressive Journal gives its take on current events in the latest fortnightly editorial. (Dr Tomasz Pierscionek encourages the campaign to derail the Health and Social Care Bill).... [read more]

UK society is dead. Or that is what its detractors would like you to think. Many will point the finger not at our leaders or themselves but towards those who they believe don’t belong here - immigrants and asylum seekers, writes Chris Bath.... [read more]

Now that the dust has settled on Ed Miliband's surprise victory in the Labour leadership election, Michael Prior considers the challenges facing the new leader as he seeks to move the party away from Blairism.... [read more]

The trial of three men accused of murdering the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya began in Moscow this week. Sara Hall looks back on the circumstances surrounding her death, and considers the bleak prospects for freedom of speech and human rights in Russia today.... [read more]

“What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or in the holy name of liberty or democracy?” (Mahatma Gandi, 1869-1948)... [read more]

Crushing regulations are driving small banks to sell out to the megabanks, a consolidation process that appears to be intentional. Publicly-owned banks can help avoid that trend and keep credit flowing in local economies.... [read more]

A team of researchers at the University of Oxford published the results of a survey of the world’s best artificial intelligence experts, who predicted that there was a 50 percent chance of AI outperforming humans in all tasks within 45 years... [read more]

Perhaps, at last, justice may have a chance, one which might set a precedent and also deter any politician or leader from embarking on the “supreme international crime”, ever again. Here’s fervently hoping.... [read more]

The present Israeli government coalition consists of 67 (out of 120) members of the Knesset. Each member wants to be elected again (and again and again). In order to be reelected, he or she must attract the attention of the public. The simplest way is to propose a new law. A bill so outrageous, that the media cannot possibly ignore it.... [read more]

Divide et impera – "divide and rule" – since Roman times this has been a guiding principle of every regime that suppresses another people. In this the Israeli authorities have been incredibly successful.... [read more]

Theresa May, the Prime Minister, was rushed into a car 40 yards from the gates outside Parliament where shots were fired minutes after the incident occurred. What a contrast to President Bashar Al Assad and his wife, who with their children, have never fled terrorist attacks on their country ongoing since March 2011, terrorist attacks which include entirely illegal, massive bombings by UK and US air power.... [read more]

Russian track and field athletes, plus the entire Paralympics team, were banned from the Rio Games last summer. This was based on the first McLaren report commissioned by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA).... [read more]

Several central banks, including the Bank of England, the People’s Bank of China, the Bank of Canada and the Federal Reserve, are exploring the concept of issuing their own digital currencies... [read more]

“It’s really 19th century behavior in the 21st century. You don’t just invade another country on phony pretexts in order to assert your interests.” (John Kerry, “Meet the Press, 2nd March 2014)... [read more]

The leaked Panama Papers, from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca & Co, are spilling the beans on the details of what the rich, powerful and greedy get up to with unseemly amounts of dosh... [read more]

Given the ongoing revelations on the extent of Tony Blair’s duplicitous collusion in the illegal bombing and invasion of Iraq, it seems the “bunker busters” and Cruise missiles are finally coming home to roost... [read more]

George Tait Edwards explains how Shimomuran-Wernerian macroeconomics is the best available path to prosperity once the politicians of the West understand the effectiveness of that option... [read more]

The Penrose Inquiry, the public inquiry into the circumstances in which patients treated by the NHS in Scotland became infected with Hepatitis C, HIV, or both, through the use of blood or blood products published its Final Report on Wednesday, 25 March 2015... [read more]

Immigration, and how the parties claim they will control it, is one of a handful of issues that will be pivotal in swaying swing voters either right or left in this year’s general election... [read more]

In a stomach-churning display of sanctimoniousness, imperialist world leaders marched shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with the victims of the Charlie Hebdo massacre and in defense of freedom of expression... [read more]

As a new report is published on the need to limit fossil fuel production to stop dangerous global warming, the UK is poised to pass an act committing governments to extracting as much oil out of the ground as possible, writes George Monbiot.... [read more]

Big business and its lobbyists have taken control of our politics. But there is an alternative. In the first of a new series, here’s how we can take on the fat cats, writes George Monbiot.... [read more]

When the Orwellianly name “Middle East Peace Envoy” Tony Blair was named “Philanthropist of the Year” by GQ Magazine in September for “his tireless charitable work” there was widespread disbelief... [read more]

Reams have been written about how awful and oppressive East Germany was - a virtual slave state with Stasi surveillance informers everywhere. That image was rudely demolished in a curious way the other day... [read more]

A letter received by the author earlier this year may shed some light on the strange case of officers allegedly being penalized after seeking to take early retirement from the Pakistan Air Force and refused their requests... [read more]

The Palestinians of Gaza consider themselves to be living within “occupied territory”, a fact recognised by the United Nations Human Rights Council and Human Rights Watch due to the fact that Israel maintains control of Gaza’s airspace, waters and borders... [read more]

In recent weeks, with the crisis which has befallen Iraq and the upsurge in ISIS related violence, Iraq has become the focus of many media articles which mostly state that the anti-war movement was right to oppose the 2003 war... [read more]

In his latest essay, John Pilger describes the liberal "one-way, legal/moral screen" behind which great power and its Orwellian propaganda ensure an impunity for war and deception, dependent on what Leni Riefenstahl called our "submissive void".... [read more]

Most of us have read how difficult it has been for whistleblowers Julian Assange and Edward Snowdon since exposing state secrets, now imagine blowing the whistle from behind bars of one of America’s most notorious penitentiaries... [read more]

Journalist Carol Grayson was asked to write an article on the war in Afghanistan for a new magazine, Afghan Zariza, but was told that the “boss” thought it was “too inflammatory, so the article was banned from publication!... [read more]

Last week the news broke that Ronnie Biggs has died at age 84. Whilst I can certainly spare a thought for his family as they grieve, l cannot reconcile the popular perception held by many that Biggs was a kind of 'loveable rogue' who got one over on 'the man'... [read more]

It is a most distressing sight to see various education ministers and other self seeking professionals falling over each other to gain credit at the expense of so many poor teachers and their most unfortunate children... [read more]

From the 12th century to the beginning of the 14th, the Knights Templar, present in much of Europe, had become the bankers for the powerful and had taken part in the financing of several crusades... [read more]

The undermining of the middle classes, who are continually being pushed down into the working class, represents, at the same time, a weakening of the ruling class, who are finding it increasingly difficult to find a social basis for their programme - an international programme of austerity... [read more]

According to a recent article in the New York Times two of the candidates running for mayor of New York have become alarmed about the worldview of Bill de Blasio, the front running candidate of the Democratic Party... [read more]

In this seemingly unsafe world, wouldn’t it be refreshing, revitalising and more hopefully, revolutionary, for music to act as a pre-action to the threats of war, terrorism and scandal asked Miles Caston... [read more]

What is modern propaganda? For many, it is the lies of a totalitarian state. In the 1970s, I met Leni Riefenstahl and asked her about her epic films that glorified the Nazis, writes John Pilger.... [read more]

Congratulations to the British Falkland Islanders, including the large Saint Helenian community there, some of whom are my relatives on my mother's side, writes David Lindsay after a referendum that was controversial in some parts of the world.... [read more]

Cleaners at the John Lewis Partnership are to ballot for strike action at the flagship Oxford Street store. This is the first step in the revived campaign to win the Living Wage for all cleaners employed by John Lewis... [read more]

Paula is depressed. She has no motivation to look after herself, to eat or to get dressed. Some days she stays in bed and doesn’t open the curtains. Felix McHugh discusses the hurdles one of his clients faces in trying to navigate the welfare system.... [read more]

In chapter seven of "'Left-Wing' Communism: an Infantile Disorder" Lenin addresses himself to the ultra-left claim that socialists should no longer work with or be members of bourgeois parliaments. Thomas Riggins explains.... [read more]

Europe is different, as we are often reminded. The general wisdom is unlike the US’ unconditional support for Israel. European countries tend to be more balanced in their approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]

Earlier this week, Malala Yousafzai was brutally shot by gunmen as she was returning home from school. Masked assassins stepped onto a bus filled with terrified children, identified her, and shot her at point blank range in the head and neck.... [read more]

Dr Faysal Mikdadi remembers the Sabra and Shatilla massacre in 1982 and examines the findings of the Kahan Commission which found that responsibility lay with former Israeli Defence minister, Ariel Sharon... [read more]

John Green reports that Julian Assange is the new bête noir, the man to be vilified, smeared and slandered. In all the media hysteria about the rape allegations made in Sweden against Assange by two women he slept with, the real issue is being conveniently buried.... [read more]

Felix McHugh, author of the book Damned Scroungers, is back with more stories about his daily struggle to ensure disability claimants receive the money to which they are rightly entitled... [read more]

Israel is currently experiencing the kind of turmoil that may or may not affect its political hierarchy following the next general election. However, there is little reason to believe that any major transformations in the Israeli political landscape could be of benefit to Palestinians, says Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]

Shortly after progressive Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba was overthrown by a Western backed coup in 1960, the former UN secretary general, Dag Hammarskjöld, died in mysterious circumstances. John Green asks if the two events were in any way connected.... [read more]

Dr Tomasz Pierscionek reviews a book about Bradley Manning- the young American soldier recognised as being the source behind thousands of documents that appeared on the Wikileaks website... [read more]

Gay marriage: 'oh dear, oh lor’, how did this become the issue of the hour? The world appears to have divided itself into two camps and I find myself in neither'- journalist and writer W Steven Gilbert shares his thoughts... [read more]

A conflict is brewing, and China, emboldened by astonishing economic growth as well as military advancement, seems to be gearing up to challenge the US’s uncontested military dominance in the region, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]

The three women Nobel Peace Prize winners of 2011, wore head Covers. Does that mean that the ‘West’ is acknowledging freedom of identity of people from the third world? asks Iqbal Tamimi.... [read more]

Ever since the decline of European Socialism in the 1980s and the collapse of the Soviet Union in the ’90s, capitalism has considered itself king of the world and has behaved accordingly, says W Stephen Gilbert.... [read more]

As expected the state is warming to the task of cracking down hard, as they like to put it, on looters/rioters past, present and future. Cameron and May have been strutting around talking tough about what they are going to do. ... [read more]

Dr Tomasz Pierscionek describes the treatment of war veterans, from the Vietnam era to those returning from present day conflicts, and highlights the continual deceit war-mongering governments use to deceive the public. The real enemies are not foreign but domestic.... [read more]

Ten days ago, London Progressive Journal contributor Assed Baig was arrested and grilled by Israeli solidiers who mistook him for a Palestinian. His story offers a glimpse of the everyday reality for many Palestinians.... [read more]

In the wake of the demostrations of 11th February, which saw hard-liners and pro-democracy campaigners alike take to the streets of Tehran, Maziar Razi assesses the balance of forces in Iranian politics.... [read more]

Mick Brooks compares the 'boom and bust' economics of the past twenty years with similar patterns in the 1920s and 1930s: once again it is the poorer nations that stand to lose the most.... [read more]

Chavez critics don't explain Venezuelan law or how Supreme Court rulings interpret it. Nor do they report how the Enabling Law works, that the nation's Constitution authorizes it, that four other presidents used it, among many other things. How can they? It would expose their false accusations and discredit their entire argument.... [read more]